Sacrifice
by Rebear
Summary: Smellerbee has run blindly into Ba Sing Se after her and Longshot's escape from Lake Laogai. Memories of the past haunt her, and she mourns Jet's death alone in the streets. Will she ever find relief?


The young girl stared down at her hands, which tangled together motionlessly in her lap. She had run to find solitude, but the crowded city streets of Ba Sing Se gave her no escape. Smellerbee had just fled from the underground nightmare of Lake Laogai, and couldn't stand to be near her now sole companion Longshot. Not while she was in this state.

Only alone would she let herself break down. If Longshot saw her so upset, he might lose all hope… it was up to her to be strong, so they could survive as refugees, as humbling as it was. Slowly, she allowed the sadness to wash over her.

An inescapable grief seized her heart as she recalled what had happened a mere few hours earlier. Her hands gripped her short hair tightly, pulling it in desperation.

_"Smellerbee…" he had said, barely able to find the strength to lift his head. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to leave the Freedom Fighters."_

_"Jet, no, don't talk like that! We Freedom Fighters are still together. We're not going anywhere." She was scarcely breathing, kneeling on the side of Jet's body next to where Longshot was standing. Try as she might, she couldn't hide the trembling her hand made as it gently touched Jet's now pale cheek._

_"Whatever happens… keep your fighting spirits." Jet's eyes were distant, his breathing uneven…_

Smellerbee was shaken with a sob she couldn't control, and was certain her face paint was smudging into reddish brown rivulets from her tears. Strangers passing her on the street were probably staring, but she didn't care. Her breath caught in her throat as she tried to force the memory of the prior events out of her head.

Instead, her sorrow manifested itself in a similarly tragic memory, from many years before.

_"Listen to your mother, dear, listen to me," she remembered hearing as she was quickly ushered out of the door to her house. "I want you to get on our ostrich horse and ride as far as you can into the woods."_

_"Mom, what's going on? There's smoke, and I thought I heard someone scream…" The seven year old girl was disoriented from being so quickly awoken. "Are you coming with me?"_

_"There's no time," her mother replied breathlessly, strapping her precious daughter onto the saddle and giving her a full traveling pack. "Go into the woods, and your father and I will find you. It's dangerous to stay here."_

_"Then why can't you come with me?" the young girl protested, tears welling in her eyes. "What happens if I get lost, or you can't find me?"_

_Her mother protectively put her hands on her daughter's shoulders and stood on her toes to kiss her forehead. "Your father and I love you very much, and we'll find you somehow. Please, just trust me, and escape now!" Her voice was frantic as she led the ostrich horse to the forest's edge. "We'll find you, Bea." _

That was the last time anyone had called her by her original name. Smellerbee had long abandoned it, and her memory was beginning to remind her why. Even with hundreds of miles and five years of distance between that day and the present, she recalled precisely the stench of charred life where her village once stood. Her parents never came to find her.

The Fire Nation had found them first.

Someone, however, did eventually find the lone, lost girl. He was a boy just a few years older than her, and considerably braver. They met in the woods, while the girl was still shaken by the loss of everything she ever had. She remembered him reaching for her hand, telling her he'd been through the exact same loss.

_"What's your name?" he asked, his voice confident but delicate._

_"Bea," she said automatically, and felt a sharp pain in her heart, remembering the name her lost parents had given her._

_"I had a name too," said the boy, "but I left it with my village after its destruction. You can call me Jet." His smile was hard, as if he had been practicing a convincing mask of happiness for a long time._

_She understood, feeling as if she owed it to her village to leave it something intact. It could keep Bea forever, and she'd take away from the destruction something to remember it by, the inescapable scent of death and burnt homes…_

_"And you can call me… Smellerbee."_

_Jet and Smellerbee exchanged looks of trust and understanding, and in that silent moment made a pact to never forget their connection._

Not too long after that, the two of them were the best of friends, and eventually the Freedom Fighters were born. Longshot, The Duke, Sneers, and Pipsqueak were adopted into their makeshift family as they found them on their travels.

The latter three were still in the woods at their old home, far from Ba Sing Se, so Smellerbee had no way of knowing how they were faring. All she knew now was that Jet… wouldn't be with them anymore. None of the Freedom Fighters would see him again, their fearless leader, after his non-ceremonial escape from the woods with his two accomplices. They wouldn't know the greatness of his heart like she did; they hadn't been there at his demise.

_She knelt by his body in silence for a minute, holding his hand between hers tightly. He was still alive, but with such little time left, she couldn't push from her mouth any words to explain her regret to the close friend below her. _

_"Jet, you're a hero. Without you, Aang and his friends would never have gotten out of Lake Laogai." Smellerbee tried to find the strength to smile, but the corners of her mouth only quivered and remained tilted downward. "You never gave up your fighting spirit. I won't, either." _

_She glanced up to Longshot, who had strung an arrow and was aiming toward the chamber's doorway. He noticed her gaze, and nodded meaningfully. "He knows what I'd tell him," his dark eyes seemed to say. "This is your turn for goodbye. I'll hold off any intruders."_

_Smellerbee nodded back to him in solemn gratitude. Her attention then focused back on Jet, whose lips were parted as if to speak._

_"'Jet', you say… it's a consolation to know that my real name will stay with my town."_

_The girl's eyes widened; they hadn't talked about this since they first met. She wondered if he recalled their brief moment of speaking together, but his next words answered her thoughts._

_"And as long as you keep yours a secret," he smiled weakly, "then your sacrifice will be safe, too." _

_Her heart stopped. She suddenly realized that he still remembered her name, and that his passing would be the end of any link between her and her home village. After swallowing the lump in her throat, she spoke again. "You can keep my name, too. You can share it with my family." After all, he was closer than family to her, though she couldn't admit it to anybody._

_"Th-thank you," he managed, and his eyes slipped closed again. His brow was less furrowed now, and his breath had nearly ceased. "I'll miss you," he softly spoke, so softly that it was almost mistaken for an echo on the stone walls. His mouth opened again, but no sound escaped. She, however, knew the shape of his lips too well, and recognized immediately what he had mouthed._

_"Bea."_

_His hand went limp in hers._

The memories after that were blurred whirls of frenzied manual combat and scampering around the seemingly inescapable underwater prison, the details of which mattered none to her as she had managed to escape unharmed. In a sense.

Now, though, she was lost in despair. Haunted by her past, Smellerbee had to hold her head to keep nightmares from reappearing. Her face was a damp mess, fresh tears on her face paint making it look like her face was melting rust.

Her family was gone. Her best friend was gone. The Freedom Fighters were gone. She sat on the street side, nearly curled up into a ball, and let herself show all the emotions she'd hidden since that fateful day so long ago. It was draining, and even a half hour into it, she still had fresh tears. Passers-by came to ignore her; suffering was commonplace among refugees in Ba Sing Se. She didn't matter. Nobody cared to stop and comfort her, she noticed, nobody put a hand on her shoulder, nobody even made eye contact…

Naturally, it came as a shock to suddenly feel a warm hand on her shoulder. She jumped and turned around, surprised to make eye contact with Longshot. He had stopped to comfort her. At first she was too taken aback by his sudden appearance to think anything of him except that since he had been so caring, he was currently her hero.

The frustration with herself came a few seconds later. How idiotic it was for her to fall apart like this if Longshot could find her! She pulled her shoulder roughly away from his hand, ashamed and embarrassed to be caught as such a vulnerable state. "Leave me alone! I'm not upset!"

His level gaze revealed he didn't believe her for a second, and he knelt to the ground next to her. His eyes had never been more somber as he pulled the wide straw hat from his head and put it over his heart. Smellerbee realized, with a painful inhalation, that he was in mourning, too.

Instinct took over as she suddenly had her arms around him, weeping unabashedly into his shoulder. "We failed the Freedom Fighters," she blubbered between sobs. "We failed Jet."

Longshot's eyes closed, and he put a gentle hand behind the girl's head. He had been anticipating her breakdown, and knew he'd need to calm her. And, as terrible as she felt for letting him see her so upset, she was thankful he had come to her.

Her pride was shattered, now, wasn't it? She had held on to it so tightly since she met Jet, and it was integral to her identity as a Freedom Fighter. Even in their escape to the Earth Kingdom capital, she still had a strong sense of purpose and commitment to freedom. Most of all, her pride had fabricated for her a shield of bravery, on which she depended quite a bit.

Longshot, perceptive as he always was, seemed to guess her thoughts. She pulled her away and wiped a reddish-brown tear from her cheek. He took a deep breath, and she waited motionlessly, knowing he spoke very rarely, saving his words for crucial times.

"Maybe sacrificing pride and embracing humility will be best for us in this city." His voice was small from neglect to use it, but his words were carefully weighted as he chose them. "We'll make it, Smellerbee, even without him." He was reluctant, she noted, to speak his name.

Her eyes were pooling with water, now. His words all rang with crystal sincerity, and she knew deep inside that it was all true. She could try being humble, perhaps, although the thought did seem bleak. But another look into Longshot's dark chocolate eyes reassured her, and she sniffled, a smile tugging on her thin lips.

"I know. Thank you, Longshot." She held him close, grateful to have a friend. It would be difficult, but if they could survive the war so far, then there was no reason they couldn't live within the walls of Ba Sing Se. After all, they wouldn't be alone… in their silent hug, their hearts seemed to promise each other loyalty and trust.

Perhaps a little hurt pride wouldn't bother her too much.


End file.
